Business NZ 主席柯克.霍普 介绍总理杰辛达.阿德恩 Jacinda Ardern。
阿德恩：
“我们中的许多人都觉得时间分为两部分。以前有生活，现在有 Covid 的生活。
但这也意味着在 Covid 之后也会有生活。我们适应的生活。我们恢复了一些常态，天气可以再次成为我们谈话的主要话题。”
今天我想谈谈下一组变化，这些变化将使我们在回归新常态的旅程中走得很远，那就是我们与世界的重新联系。
我清楚地记得Covid大流行的早期。我记得我们在紧急内阁会议上讨论了第一次边境关闭——在第一阶段是逐个国家进行的。我记得我们决定要求每位旅客自我隔离的那一刻。我记得当时没有自我隔离的病例的出现。我记得大约两年前的 4 月 10 日，我们建立了有管理的隔离检疫系统。
很容易听到 MIQ 这个词并立即将其与心痛联系起来。毫无疑问，对于新西兰来说，这是大流行中最艰难的部分之一。但它之所以能成为我们经历过的最艰难的事情之一，部分原因是大规模的生命损失并非如此。
MIQ 的痛苦是真实的，令人心碎。但选择使用它，无疑挽救了生命。
我在过去两年收到的一些信件总结了必须做出的艰难权衡。就在今年夏天，有一个人很好地捕捉到了这一点。他说：“作为一个住在日本的新西兰人，我坐在我工作了两年多的远程工作的家里，想着我可以飞回去见家人的快乐日子，这让我想知道是否有人花时间说谢谢你。虽然我非常想回去探望我的已退休的伙伴，但我对现行的规则和指导方针感到鼓舞……感谢您确保他们所有人的安全。”
MIQ 意味着不是每个人都可以随心所欲地回家。但这也意味着 Covid 也无法在它想进来的时候进来。
Ardern 现在正在解释MIQ 帮助新西兰实现的一些目标：
“我们已经能够建立我们的防御。
成为世界上接种疫苗最多的国家之一。
制定我们知道有效的公共卫生措施。
让我们的孩子接种疫苗，让我们的成年人得到加强针。
保持我们的经济强劲。
看到人们在失业率处于创纪录低点 3.2% 的情况下继续工作。
将增长恢复到 Covid 之前的水平，并提前三年恢复盈余。
为了使债务远低于我们比较的许多国家，使用 IMF 衡量的 2024 年为 24.1%，相比之下，澳大利亚超过 44%，英国超过 98%，欧元区为 80%。
在这场袭击了全世界每个人的大流行中，所有这些取得的成功，都是这里的和海外的每一个新西兰人得来之不易的。”
阿德恩转向重新连接新西兰人：
“但我们昨天用来帮助我们应对这场健康危机的工具不会保持不变。
“你可能还记得，在 Omicron 到来之前，我们谈到了为回国的新西兰人而采取的自我隔离措施。1 月 17 日，我们将开始这种新的运营方式，首先是新西兰人往返澳大利亚。
“随着 Omicron 的到来，我们推动了边境设置的改变——让我们自己有机会推出加强针——这是大多数其他国家从未有过的机会。新西兰人有机会在艰难的一年后喘口气，为未来下一阶段做好准备。
“昨天我们缩短了第二剂和加强剂之间的时间，这意味着从本周末起，超过 300 万新西兰人能够得到加强剂，到 2 月底，将有 3,345,173 人有资格接种加强剂，这是 92% 18岁以上的人口。
“随着我们的社区得到更好的保护，我们必须转向重新联系的重要性。家人和朋友需要团聚。我们的企业需要技能来发展。出口商需要旅行以建立新的联系。
是时候再次行动了。”
阿德恩：
今天，我们分 5 步推进我们重新连接新西兰与世界的计划。
从步骤 1 开始。
今天我宣布，已完全接种疫苗的新西兰人和其他目前符合条件的澳大利亚旅客将能够从 2 月 27 日星期日晚上 11:59 开始前往新西兰，而不是进入 MIQ，而是能够自我隔离。
在第 2 步中，仅仅两周后，已完全接种疫苗的新西兰人和其他目前符合条件的来自世界其他地区的旅行者也将能够在不通过 MIQ 的情况下进入新西兰。
我们的公共卫生顾问要求在每个步骤之间间隔两周，以便我们的系统有时间针对我们社区出现更多病例的可能性进行调整，并让我们的边境系统以最安全的方式继续扩大规模。
这意味着卫生工作者、农场经理、园艺工作者、科技行业专业人士、会计服务、教育和建筑行业的工作人员，都将有资格进入新西兰，进行短期自我隔离，然后开展业务。自我们的边境关闭以来，已经有 17,000 多名关键工人来到新西兰。
我们的工作假期计划也将从第 2 步开始重新开放。
第 3 步从 4 月 12 日星期二晚上 11:59 开始。在这里，我们进一步扩大了边境扩展范围，包括多达 5,000 名在第 2 学期之前入境的国际学生和仍符合相关签证要求的临时签证持有人。
第 4 步见证了迄今为止最大的扩张，包括我们的澳大利亚表亲以及所有其他通常无需签证即可进入新西兰的游客和商务旅客。当这个阶段开始时我们的病例数可能比现在多得多。对于规划，我们预计这一阶段将不迟于 7 月开始。我想强调这是我们期望开始的最新版本。随着我们进入大流行的下一阶段，这个日期很有可能提前。
从 7 月起，新的认可雇主工作签证将开放，包括海外工人。此时，关键的工人边界例外将被移除。作为移民再平衡变化的一部分，新的工作签证将主要提供给收入超过工资中位数的工人。移民部长将很快就这项和其他移民再平衡措施发表更多意见。
最后，第 5 步从 10 月开始，包括所有其他需要签证才能进入新西兰的游客和学生，恢复正常的签证处理。
我知道旅行者和新西兰人会有两个重要问题。 首先是隔离要求。
虽然我们将不再要求人们进行有管理的隔离，但在此阶段，旅客将被要求大致遵守我们在新西兰对旅行时密切接触者的要求。 这是因为，作为旅行者，他们很可能在旅途中接触到高度传播的 Omicron 变体，即使在出发前进行了检测，您也可以从我们目前在边境的数字中看到这一事实。
这意味着目前，返回的新西兰人将需要自我隔离 10 天。 但随着新西兰密切接触者的隔离期缩短，正如我们在 Omicron 响应的第二阶段所做的那样，返回者也将只需要隔离 7 天。
“我们的旅行者和联系人系统将大体上保持一致。
在检测方面，所有到达机场的旅客将在抵达机场后接受三项快速抗原检测，然后带回家。一个在第 0/1 天使用，一个在第 5/6 天使用，另外一个用于备份。这使我们有最好的机会来识别跨境病例。
如果在任何时候返回阳性结果，将要求返回者在社区检测站进行后续 PCR 检测。这将帮助我们监控可能出现的任何可能的变体。它还将帮助我们评估何时可以安全地解除自我隔离要求。
我知道，虽然许多人会庆祝今天的重新开放，但其他人会对跨越边境的人员恢复感到焦虑。但这里有保障措施，我们将在 2 月底尽可能地接种加强剂，分阶段减少病例激增的风险，旅行者将进行检测和隔离，未接种疫苗的人将保留 MIQ。这意味着我们将很快知道旅行者是否感染了包括任何新变种在内的病毒。
在这一点上，我想指出，我们将持续监控自我隔离的必要性和价值。我们公共卫生官员的强烈建议是，我们仍然需要它作为管理Omicron 的一种方式，但在不久的将来可能不需要了。尽管目前我们必须继续听取对我们非常有用的公共卫生建议。”
总体而言，以这种有管理的方式重新开放可以平衡旅客的流入，以便人们可以团聚并填补我们的劳动力短缺，同时还确保我们的医疗保健系统可以管理病例的增加。 毕竟，我们与 Omicron 的战略是减缓传播速度，而我们的边境就是其中的一部分。
至于 MIQ，它将继续用于未接种疫苗的高风险旅行者。
这意味着国防军将开始从 MIQ 撤出，一些酒店将恢复传统用途，以支持我们的游客返回。 将保持核心检疫能力，可以根据需要扩大规模，这将构成未来国家检疫的基础。 未来会有更多关于这方面的消息。
阿德恩现在感谢 MIQ 工作人员两年来帮助将 200,000 新西兰人带回家的辛勤工作：
“在我们最需要你的时候，你让我们所有人都安全了。我们欠你一份感激之情。”
阿德恩确认她今年将出国旅行：
“今年我将带领贸易代表团和贸易支持访问访问四个主要市场——澳大利亚、亚洲、美国和欧洲。”
阿德恩现在正在谈论业务复苏：
“我听到很多关于回归“一切照旧”的说法。但我们比“照常营业”要好。
“就像我们在应对新冠疫情、拯救生命和经济方面开辟了自己的道路一样，我们现在必须开辟自己的复苏之路。按照我们的条件。复苏始于对我们的新冠经济支持计划投资 230 亿纽币。
“我们的重点是通过提高我们的生产力、发展我们的技能和投资于我们的创新来创造更高工资的工作岗位的复苏。这是一个气候变化的环境挑战与低排放技术和再生农业的经济机会相匹配的未来 。”
Ardern:
“Many of us feel like time is in two parts. There was life before, and now life with Covid.
But that also means there will be life after Covid too. A life where we have adapted. Where we have some normality back, and where the weather can once again take its rightful place as our primary topic of conversation.”
Today I want to talk about the next set of changes that will take us a long way on that journey back to a new normal, and that is our reconnection with the world.
I can vividly remember the early days of the Covid pandemic. I recall the emergency cabinet meeting where we discussed the very first border closure – which in the first stages was country by country. I remember the moment we decided to require every traveller to self-isolate. I remember the cases that arose from people who then didn’t self-isolate. And I remember the establishment of our managed isolation and quarantine system on the 10th of April almost two years ago.
It’s easy to hear the word MIQ and immediately associate it with heartache. There is no question, that for New Zealand, it has been one of the hardest parts of the pandemic. But the reason that it is right up there as one of the toughest things we have experienced, is in part because large-scale loss of life is not.
The anguish of MIQ has been real, and heart breaking. But the choice to use it, undeniably saved lives.
Some of the letters I have received over the past two years have summed up the hard trade-off that had to be made. One just this summer captured that well. It said: “As a Kiwi living in Japan I was sitting in my 2-plus year remote work home, thinking of the happy day when I could fly back and see my family when it made me wonder if anyone took the time to say thank you. While I desperately want to return and visit my retired folks, I am heartened by the rules and guidelines in place… Thanks for keeping them all safe.”
MIQ meant not everyone could come home when they wanted to. But it also meant that Covid could not come in when it wanted to, either.
Ardern is now running through some of the things MIQ has helped NZ achieve:
“we have been able to build our defences.
To become one of the most vaccinated countries in the world.
To set up public health measures that we know work.
To get our children vaccinated and our adults boosted.
To keep our economy strong.
To see people stay in work with unemployment at a record low of 3.2 percent.
To return growth to pre-Covid levels and a return to surplus three years ahead of forecast.
To have debt well below many of the countries we compare ourselves with, using the IMF measure of 24.1% in 2024, compared to Australia at over 44%, the UK at more than 98% and the Euro Area at 80%.
All of these markers of success in this pandemic that has hit everyone around the world, they have been hard earned by every Kiwi here, and every Kiwi abroad too.”
Ardern pivots to reconnecting Kiwis:
“But the tools we used yesterday to help us battle this health crisis, won’t stay the same.
“You might remember that before Omicron arrived we talked about moving to self-isolation for returning Kiwis. On the 17th of January we were due to start that new way of operating with Kiwis travelling to and from Australia first.
“With Omicron’s arrival, we pushed that change in border settings out – to give ourselves the chance to roll out boosters – a chance most other countries never had. And a chance for Kiwis to take a breath after a hard year, and prepare for the next phase.
“Yesterday we reduced the time between second doses and the booster which means over 3 million New Zealanders are able to get boosted from this weekend and that, by the end of February, 3,345,173 people will be eligible to be boosted, that’s 92% of the population over 18.
“With our community better protected we must then turn to the importance of reconnection. Families and friends need to reunite. Our businesses need skills to grow. Exporters need to travel to make new connections.
It’s time to move again.”
Ardern:
Today in 5 steps, we move forward with our plan to reconnect New Zealand to the world.
Beginning with step 1.
Today I am announcing that fully vaccinated Kiwis and other currently eligible travellers from Australia will be able to travel to New Zealand from 11:59pm Sunday 27 February, and instead of going into MIQ, will be able to self-isolate.
In step 2, just two weeks later, fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other currently eligible travellers from the rest of the world will also be able to travel into New Zealand without going through MIQ.
The two weeks between each of these steps has been requested by our public health advisors to give time for our systems to adjust for the likelihood of more cases in our community, and for our border systems to keep scaling up in the safest way possible.
This means that health workers, farm managers, horticultural workers, tech sector professionals, those working for accounting services, in education and construction, will all be eligible to enter New Zealand, self-isolate for a short period and then go about their business. Adding to the more than 17,000 critical workers who have already come to New Zealand since our borders closed.
Our Working Holiday Schemes will also reopen from step 2.
In step 2, just two weeks later, fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other currently eligible travellers from the rest of the world will also be able to travel into New Zealand without going through MIQ.
The two weeks between each of these steps has been requested by our public health advisors to give time for our systems to adjust for the likelihood of more cases in our community, and for our border systems to keep scaling up in the safest way possible.
At step 2 at 11:59pm on Sunday 13 March, there will also be an expanded border exception for critical workers, and skilled workers earning at least 1.5 times the median wage, who will also be eligible to enter New Zealand, along with highly skilled workers’ family members who may have been separated from their loved ones.
This means that health workers, farm managers, horticultural workers, tech sector professionals, those working for accounting services, in education and construction, will all be eligible to enter New Zealand, self-isolate for a short period and then go about their business. Adding to the more than 17,000 critical workers who have already come to New Zealand since our borders closed.
Our Working Holiday Schemes will also reopen in stages from step 2.
Step 3 begins from 11:59pm Tuesday 12 April. Here we further extend our border extension to include a large international student cohort of up to 5,000 students for entry ahead of semester 2 and temporary visa holders who still meet relevant visa requirements.
Step 4 sees the biggest expansion yet, and includes our Australian cousins and all other visitors and business travellers who can normally enter New Zealand without a visa. This stage is likely to begin when we have much larger case numbers than we have now. For planning, we anticipate this stage will begin no later than July. I want to place strong emphasis on this being the latest we expect this to begin. There is a high likelihood of this date coming forward as we progress through the next stage of the pandemic.
From July those on the new Accredited Employer Work Visa will open including for workers offshore. At this point, the critical worker border exception will be removed. The new work visa will be mainly available to workers earning over the median wage as part of the Immigration Rebalance changes. The Minister of Immigration will have more to say about this and other immigration rebalance measures soon.
And finally, step 5 begins in October and includes all other visitors and students who require a visa to enter New Zealand, with normal visa processing resuming.
Two important questions I know travellers and Kiwis will have. The first is isolation requirements.
While we will no longer require people to enter managed isolation, at this stage travellers will be asked to follow broadly the same requirements we have in New Zealand for close contacts at the time of their travel. That’s because, as travellers, it is highly likely that they’ll come in contact with the highly transmissible Omicron variant on their journey, a fact you can see in our current numbers at the border, even with pre departure testing in place.
That means currently, returning New Zealanders will need to self-isolate for 10 days. But as the isolation period drops for close contacts here in New Zealand, as it does in phase two of our Omicron response, so too will returnees only need to isolate for 7 days.
“Our system for travellers and contacts will be broadly aligned.
When it comes to testing, all arrivals will be given three rapid antigen tests upon arrival at the airport, to take home. One for use on day 0/1, and one for use on day 5/6, with one extra for backup. That gives us the best chance of identifying cases that have come across the border.
If a positive result is returned at any point, returnees will be asked to get a follow up PCR test at a community testing station. That will help us to monitor any possible variants that may emerge. It will also help us assess when it’s safe to lift self-isolation requirements.
I know while many will celebrate today’s reopening, others will feel anxious about the resumption of people across our border. But here are the safeguards, we will be as boosted as possible at the end of February, the phasing reduces the risk of a surge in cases, and travellers will be testing and isolating, with MIQ remaining for the unvaccinated. This means we will know quickly if a traveller has the virus including any new variants.
And on that point I want to note that we will be continually monitoring the need for and the value of self-isolation. The strong advice from our public health officials is that we still need it to manage our way through Omicron, but there will be a time in the not too distant future when that will not be the case. For now though we must continue to heed the public health advice that has served us so well.”
Overall, opening back up in this managed way balances inflows of travellers so people can reunite and fill our workforce shortages, while also ensuring our healthcare system can manage an increase in cases. After all, our strategy with Omicron is to slow the spread, and our borders are part of that.
As for MIQ, it will continue to be used for high-risk travellers such as those who are unvaccinated.
That means the Defence Force will begin the process of withdrawing from MIQ, with some hotels returning to traditional use to support the return of our tourists. A core quarantine capacity will be maintained that can be scaled up as required, which will form the basis of a future National Quarantine Service. More on this in the future.
Ardern is now thanking MIQ workers for two years of hard work helping bring 200,000 Kiwis home:
“You made all of us safe at a time when we needed you most. And we owe you a debt of gratitude.”
Ardern confirms she will be travelling overseas this year:
“I will lead trade delegations and trade-supporting visits into four key markets this year – Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe.”
Ardern is now talking business recovery:
“I hear much talk of a return to Business As Usual. But we are better than Business As Usual.
“And in the same way we cut our own path in our Covid response, saving lives and our economy, we must now carve our own recovery. On our terms. A recovery that began with $23 billion invested in our Covid economic support schemes.
“A recovery where our focus is on creating higher wage jobs through lifting our productivity, growing our skills and investing in our innovation. It is a future where the environmental challenge of climate change is matched by the economic opportunities of low emissions technology and regenerative agriculture.”
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